Hellebores 2008

[Hans J]

Hans my bocconei certainly isn't evergreen - interesting. Can you give more info on Helleborus  Sp Calabria?

Hi Ian ,

Sorry but I did not read also your earlier note .

From H. siculus exist a good articel from G. Schmiemann in Gartenpraxis - sorry only in german .

To this Helleborus from Calabria :
I found this species in year 2002 by my travel and I asked friends of mine ( Botanists from Calabria )
that I found two different species -one is foeditus - but the other ? my friends told me it is H. bocconei ..
So I decided to take a little seedling with me -after my return I send Will McLewin pics of this plants
( sorry I have not save his mail ) and he told me too this ID .
I will send later in this year more pics -it looks really nice

enclosed are the pics from 2002 -sorry the scanns are not so well

[Tim Murphy]

Hi Hans, H. siculus isn't an accepted (or published) name though. H. bocconei grows on Sicily and on the extreme southern tip of Italy as you probably already know. I'm not sure that whether the plants are deciduous or not is enough to separate them. Especially as plants growing in an island climate (probably slightly warmer than the mainland) would probably be evergreen. Hellebores on Krk in Croatia show the same characteristic.

My bocconei from several locations, including Sicily, don't seem different enough (at least visually) to make seperating them a useful thing to do. Of course all of the Italian species are so variable, so it does make knowing where to draw the line between the species, very difficult.

I would like to see more photos of your species hellebores, Hans, as your climate is probably better suited to them than mine. Do you find that your species plants bulk up quickly?

Rob, yes, Will and Matthias published a paper on Italian hellebores in 2006. It was met with mixed reactions and things might change again, but for now it is the most sensible approach for those hellebores.

[Hans J]

Hi Tim ,

Thank you for your informations .
I will wait ....maybe in some year a other taxonomist will made a other key ...
I'm with Helleborus not so familar like you - I find this plants always by my travels if I search for other favorites plants of mine like Paeonia -they grow often in same locations .

I agree really with you about the variability of the italian species -it is confusing .

I have seen in nature :
H. argutifolius ( Corsica + Sardinia )
H. cyclophyllus ( Parnass Mts./ Greece )
H. foeditus ( from Spain -France)
H. multifidus ( Slowenia ,Croatia and also Krk)
H. niger ( Italy + Croatia ) + H. nig. ssp. macranthus
H. odorus ( on Corfu )
H. orientalis ( in eastern part of Turkey )
H. vesicarius ( south west Turkey )
H. viridis ( Italy + France )
H. viridis ssp. occidentalis ( northern spain )

I will send later more pics of my species Helleborus -I grow some plants from Decora .

To the climate in my area : not all grow succsessfull -because my soil is calcy and I have a warm climate .

I had never succsess with H. thibetanus !

Like weed grows here H. foeditus ,orientalis ,X sternii -all other grow slow

[ian mcenery]

Thanks Hans very interesting and to my untutored eye the foliage seems to have some relationship to "multifidus" group.
Hellebore species are confusing I know and nomenclature is far from settled and to the non botanical eye confusing to say the least. I am growing a number of species which I had from WM either as plants or in some cases seed and where I have lost labels Tim is trying to sort me out. I do love them for their quiet elegance but I find most have been slow to increase. Perhaps I will make a trip to see these in the wild and this will help me to understand how to grow these better.

Also Tim thanks for your input as always very informed

[Rob]

The weekend hellebore sales at Ullingswick are February 9th & 10th and February 16th & 17th 10am to 5pm

Here are some pics of hybrids in my garden, a single yellow and two anemone centered

[David Nicholson]

The weekend hellebore sales at Ullingswick are February 9th & 10th and February 16th & 17th 10am to 5pm

Here are some pics of hybrids in my garden, a single yellow and two anemone centered

Thanks for that Rob, unfortunately I can't make any of them. Nice pictures by the way.

[Maggi Young]

Nice pix.
And Ullingswick would be   .........what...where   

[David Nicholson]

Nice pix.
And Ullingswick would be   .........what...where   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullingswick

[johanneshoeller]

Now many H.n. are full in flower in the Austrian Alps. Pixs are taken behind my house (-7°C). Some are reddish.
Hans

[ian mcenery]

Hans marvellous to see them from the wild. They look wonderful 

[Paul T]

I like those ones with the red stain to them.  Quite unusual.  Very different to those that age to a pinky or apricot colour...... a desirable trait to add to what is in cultivation, that is for sure.

[Jane]

Hello,
here is a small selection of some of my hellebores flowering in my garden,
Jane

[chris]

we had our Hellebores week-end in the arboretum of Kalmthout, Belgium, here tree of my plants on the show: the third is a verry good H.thibetanus from seed, I sow it 4 years ago

[Paul T]

Chris,

Love that dark centred, and the thibetanus is stunning.  I think the last of my seedlings of thibetanus went to the great garden in the sky this year......  I think they're short growign season and my climate are a little touchy.  I'll know next time to give them more shade and moisture than I gave these seedlings. 

[chris]

Paul, H.tibetanus is not a easy plant, I give them deep shadow, I hold my seedlings 2 years in pots, in summer I just hold the pots moist, after 2 years I repot yhem in deep pots because the roots are verry long, I give liquid feed (10-52-10) for a good rootgrow.
here another 3 show plants